The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime

The Gingerbreadman, psychopath, sadist, genius, and killer, is on the loose. But it isn't Jack Spratt's case. He and Mary Mary have been demoted to Missing Persons following Jack's poor judgment involving the poisoning of Mr. Bun the baker. Missing Persons looks like a boring assignment until a chance encounter leads them into the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta "Goldy" Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Mole.

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel

In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection.

Shades of Grey

As long as anyone can remember, society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. From the underground feedpipes that keep the municipal park green to the healing hues viewed to cure illness to a social hierarchy based upon one's limited color perception, society is dominated by color. In this world, you are what you can see.

The Last Dragonslayer: The Chronicles of Kazam, Book 1

In the good old days, magic was indispensable - it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain. But now magic is fading: drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians - but it’s hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world’s last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer.

Mrs Pargeter's Principle

For Mrs Pargeter, it is a matter of principle that she should complete any of her late husband's unfinished business. Amongst his many bequests, perhaps the most valuable is his little black book, in which he listed all the people who ever worked for him, with details of their particular skill sets. This means that whenever Mrs P has a crime to solve, she can readily contact someone with the relevant expertise.

The Creeping Shadow: Lockwood & Co., Book 4

After leaving Lockwood & Co. at the end of The Hollow Boy, Lucy is a freelance operative hiring herself out to agencies that value her ever-improving skills. One day she is pleasantly surprised by a visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough assignment. Penelope Fittes, the leader of the giant Fittes Agency, wants them - and only them - to locate and remove the Source for the legendary Brixton Cannibal.

Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly landlord of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the services of her detective-agency tenants to solve a decade-old murder - her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny's fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of 10 years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny's case isn't so cold after all.

Goldenhand: The Old Kingdom, Book 5

Lirael lost one of her hands in the binding of Orannis, but now she has a new hand, one of gilded steel and Charter Magic. On a dangerous journey, Lirael returns to her childhood home, the Clayr's Glacier, where she was once a Second Assistant Librarian. There a young woman from the distant North brings her a message from her long-dead mother, Arielle. It is a warning about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning?

A Dirty Job

People start dropping dead around Charlie, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death.

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant

Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort. One fateful night - different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful - Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos of the parahuman world.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

There's a murderer on the loose - but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner.

Stiletto: A Novel

When secret organizations are forced to merge after years of enmity and bloodshed, only one person has the fearsome powers - and the bureaucratic finesse - to get the job done. Facing her greatest challenge yet, Rook Myfanwy Thomas must broker a deal between two bitter adversaries: the Checquy - the centuries-old covert British organization that protects society from supernatural threats, and the Grafters - a centuries-old supernatural threat.

The Fall of the House of Cabal: The Johannes Cabal Novels, Book 6

Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has come into possession of a vital clue that may lead him to his ultimate goal: a cure for death. The path is vague, however, and certainly treacherous as it takes him into strange territories that, quite literally, no one has ever seen before. The task is too dangerous to venture upon alone, so he must seek assistance - comrades for the coming travails.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Take a wonderfully crazed excursion into the demented heart of a tropical paradise - a world of cargo cults, cannibals, mad scientists, ninjas, and talking fruit bats. Our bumbling hero is Tucker Case, a hopeless geek trapped in a cool guy's body, who makes a living as a pilot for the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation.

Neverwhere

Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job and a pretty but shrewish fiancée. Then one night he stumbles upon a girl lying on the sidewalk, bleeding. He stops to help her, and his life is changed forever. Soon he finds himself living in a London most people would never have dreamed of: a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels. It is a world that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations.

The Lie Tree

Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy - a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal.

Mr. Splitfoot

Ruth and Nat are orphans packed into a house full of abandoned children run by a religious fanatic. To entertain their siblings, they channel the dead. Decades later Ruth's niece, Cora, finds herself accidentally pregnant. After years of absence, Aunt Ruth appears, mute and full of intention. She is on a mysterious mission, leading Cora on an odyssey across the entire state of New York on foot. Where is Ruth taking them? Where has she been?

The Last Detective: An Inspector Peter Diamond Investigation

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is the last detective: a genuine gumshoe, committed to door-stopping and deduction rather than fancy computer gadgetry. So when the naked body of a woman is found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath with no one willing to identify her, no marks, and no murder weapon, his sleuthing abilities are tested to the limit.

Publisher's Summary

It's Easter in Reading, a bad time for eggs, and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Wolff. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody.

And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town.

The familiar and utterly transformed characters and world of nursery crime is pure ingenious fun. Just when you thought he'd stretched his astonishing imagination to the limit, Jasper Fforde does it again with this dazzling new series.

What the Critics Say

"Fforde's whimsical fifth novel, his first not to feature literary detective Thursday Next, is consistently witty....The result is unusually clever." (Publishers Weekly) "Fforde is gaining fans, and even readers who start out groaning may find themselves grinning." (Booklist)

Brilliant. I think Jasper Fforde is the literary equivalent of "Monty Pythons Flying Circus". Long live DI Jack Spratt, Sgt Mary Mary and the other assorted wierdos of the Nursery Crime Division. And narrator Simon Prebble only adds to the foolishness.

I was thrilled to find a new Jasper Fforde book on Audible, and can hardly wait for the next Nursery Crime Book. I was surprised to see a remark about no literary illusions in this book! What about little things like Humptey Dumptey's office on Grimm Road? I found the book utterly charming and couldn't put it down. It is different from the Thursday Next series, but just as whimsical.

Immigration lawyer in Kansas City. I like Character driven dramas, fantasy (monsters, magic and witches oh my!) and coming of age stories. Favs include: The Book Thief, The Game of Throne series, Harry Potter Series, Dresden Files, Nightside series, anything by Neil Gaimen, 100 Years of Solitude.

Like all of Mr. Fforde's stories, The Big Over Easy is light and witty. I found it very enjoyable to listen to at the gym and in my car. I love this narrator as well. It was a nice break after the 2 true crime books I listened to right before this one. I look forward hearing more from this author.

I thought this was a delightful listen all the way through. I realize that it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you have a taste for the absurd you should try it. Tuesday Next is one of my favorite series and the Nursery Crimes are just as fun. I eagerly await "The Fourth Bear" which will come out next summer. The narrator was perfect.

I love everything Jasper Fforde has written. He has a wonderful sense of humor and an amazing writing ability. There are lots of unexpected and entertaining twists. I highly recommend all of his books!

Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite modern authors. As always, he is clever and witty, and his characters are likable. As in his other series focusing on Literary detectives, he uses very clever puns and lots of literary allusions, so that you might miss a lot of humor if you don't know the stories.I did enjoy the Swindon/Eyre Affair books more, but I think the Nursery Crime stories will please Fforde's fan, and you don't need to know "literature" as much as remember nursery rhymes from your childhood.

I am a big fan of Jasper Fforde and have read all the books in his Thursday Next series. I was thrilled to have another book by this author to read, but gave up halfway through. The plot was boring and the wonderful, quirky allusions to fictional characters that populated the other books was lacking here. It seemed to me that he was writing down to his readers in this one. I would happily recommend his other books but not this one.

Jasper Fforde is a complete original, and so are his stories. This is the first story in his Nursery Crime series featuring Detective Jack Spratt aka The Giant Killer and his partner Mary Mary (from a long line of Mary Marys, for some reason people ask plant advice of her). This is a witty take on nursery story characters that are all grown up.